Of all the happiness research I’ve studied over the years, one of my very favorite findings is that happiness doesn’t just correlate with success. Happiness actually causes success. In other words, if you want to put a solid success strategy to work for you, make happiness your success strategy. The positive emotion that happiness produces has been shown to increase your likelihood of a promotion, a raise, a fulfilling marriage, warding off sickness and even living longer.
So, while we often buy into the idea that we’ll be happy when we finally achieve the success we want – the career, the marriage, the house of our dreams – the truth is that happiness doesn’t suddenly appear when we achieve certain milestones in life. Happiness happens when we fully embrace the joy of living, loving, learning, even failing. It is an attitude that is grateful for the life you have now, not just the life you aim to have in the future.
If you can learn to be happy before you hit the milestones, you produce the positive emotion that research shows strengthens you, broadens your scope of thinking and gives you the optimistic outlook that predicts success.
My message to you this week is simple: Be happy. Make the choice to smile instead of frown; to be patient and kind when the cashier is slow; to stop everything, take a break and play with your kids rather than multitask. You don’t have to be happy about the challenges in your life, but you can be happy in spite of them. Don’t let anything steal your joy. It is your strength. Leverage it and success will come more easily.
My challenge to you this week:
Despite that challenge that threatens to steal your joy, choose happiness.
Journaling assignment:
In what way(s) have your goals and dreams become “work” rather than joy, feeding into the misguided belief that you’ll be happy when you get to the finish line? In what way(s) is it time to shift your attitude?
Read more:
For more tips and inspiration on this subject, check out my book Happy Women Live Better: 13 ways to trigger your happiness every day and the Happy Women Live Better 3-CD Coaching Program
